The Remedy
by Pernshinigami
Summary: Dark, dark, dark Yuriyaoi warning. Mariah is crushing after Emily, but Emily is homophobic, can they ever get together?
1. The Remedy is a dangerous liason

The Remedy. ch. 1  
  
by Nyassa Kaiba  
  
Notes: This fic is dark, very dark, I'm also missing the prologue. Anywho, it's rated R for mention of yuri, really bad language, and really dark things like a mention of Rape and Suicide. No, none of the characters actually suicide, none of the actual ones anyway. It's only an OC, but still! *sob*  
  
~Rei~  
  
Emily sang, in all her glory. Though she didn't realize that the song was almost a prelude to the turmoil to come. None of us could.   
  
"I can try to pretend,  
  
I can try to forget  
  
But it's driving me mad  
  
Going out of my head"  
  
The Altos took up the descant. Emily trembled with energy, ready to burst into song when her cue came. The energy that I sensed from the singers on stage was amazing. And that wasn't the only song that they would be singing that night. This time, the altos sang the melody. They'd need her range for the refrain.   
  
"I saw fireworks from the freeway  
  
And behind closed eyes I could not make them go away  
  
'Cause you were born on the fourth of July, Freedom rang  
  
But something on the surface it stinks."   
  
"Woooowwwww!!!!" Mariah marveled, clinging to my arm.  
  
I felt Kai's hand start inching up my leg.   
  
"Yeah something on the surface,   
  
It kind of makes me nervous,  
  
To say that you deserve this,   
  
But you don't deserve this  
  
Gotta cure this dirt-e-o disease  
  
'Cause if you've got the poison, I've got the remedy!"  
  
/Is this crazy or what. I've got my boyfriend inching his hand up my thigh, and my supposed girlfriend, whom I'm covering for because she's really a Lesbian hanging off my arm at her crush's concert!/ I sighed, claiming defeat. Kai had once tried to make out with me during a movie. Tyson had smacked him and he got kicked in the stomach for it.   
  
After the show, Emily, absolutely enervated, met us outside the "green room." "Whew! I thought I was gonna die of embarassment up there!"   
  
"You were sooooo cool!" Mariah squeeled. "I wanna sing like that!"  
  
"My voice sounds like a bullfrog with larengitis Mariah, if you had it you wouldn't want it."  
  
"Are you kidding?" Max demanded. "That was so cool!"   
  
Tyson was looking around the room, which was painted blue and covered with diagrams on various facets of music. There was one displaying the different types of musical instruments, and another showing different types of notes. "Why do they call it a green room if it's blue?"   
  
Kenny facefaulted. "Can't you pay a compliment to Emily? She worked her butt off getting ready for this concert!"   
  
"She sang really well, I'm just wondering why they call a blue room green."   
  
"Nobody really knows." Emily answered irritably.   
  
"Emily!" A woman who I thought was Emily's mother came into the room, sweeping the littlest All-Star into a bear hug. "You sang so beautifully. Come on! Judy's taking the whole team out for pizza!" She turned to Max and Tyson. "Would you two like to come with us?"  
  
"Sure!" Tyson exclaimed.   
  
"Great, I know the greatest place in town for pizza." The woman exclaimed.   
  
"What about you Kai? I know a good place for hamburgers." I asked a few minutes later. "Mariah, you wanna come too?" We were walking up the path to the parking lot.   
  
"Can you wait for me? I want to talk to Emily." She told us.  
  
"Good luck." I wished her.   
  
~Mariah~  
  
Emily and I walked over to the swings. I remembered them, Michael used to enjoy pushing people off them. "So what did you want to talk about?" Emily asked, curious.  
  
My heart began to pound, what would she think of me? But... If I didn't try, what would I think of myself? What would Rei and the other Tigers think of me? "I... I love you..." I stammered.   
  
"You're kidding right? I thought you were with Rei!"   
  
"He was covering for me, one tiger to another, you know?"  
  
"No I don't know! Get away from me you bitch!" Emily snapped.   
  
"Emily..." But it was too late, Emily was gone to join the other All Stars, to celebrate her success. I fell onto the ground in tears.   
  
"Emily?" Lee asked, I felt a hand on my shoulder.   
  
"What's wrong with me? I should have known that she wouldn't..."  
  
"How?" Robert asked pointedly. "Mariah, some people just can't handle it. And there's no way to tell whether they would feel the same way back."   
  
"But now... now she... she hates me! She called... m... me a bitch!" I stammered through my tears.   
  
"We know you aren't." Johnny said encouragingly.  
  
"We're your friends Mariah." Rei said gently. "Appearantly Emily wasn't. That's all there is to it."  
  
"Not everything is as black and white as Driger, Rei." Oliver said gently. "Remember the situation with Kai a couple months back? And now look at him."  
  
"You think Emily will make up for it?" Kai demanded. "I highly doubt that Oliver."   
  
"Your idealism is what makes you so nice, but there are some people that charm doesn't work on." Enrique sighed. "I learned that the hard way." (A/N: Sigh! Pretty boy Enrique! The IQ of cheez but we love him anyway.*huggles*)   
  
"Come on Mariah. I'll take you out to 99 Grill or someplace like that." Robert offered. "Meal on me. I've never known a tiger to refuse a hamburger!" He joked. "You guys wanna come too?"   
  
"I was gonna go anyway." Rei grinned. "I like steak, but Tyson's grandpa is trying to cut down his food intake, so we don't eat out too often."   
  
"I could go for that!" Kevin grinned, glomping Johnny happily. "It pays to be rich!"   
  
"I am a little hungry." Enrique admitted.   
  
"And I'm too tired to cook tonight." Oliver sighed. "Everywhere I go, Oliver I want an autograph! Oliver can you battle me! I want a picture! I've practically gone nuts trying to get some peace and quiet."   
  
"Feed me Seymour!" Johnny begged, jumping Robert in a mock glomp.   
  
"I'll go too, if only because I don't trust Enrique around Rei."  
  
"I keep him in line!" Oliver said indignantly.   
  
"You'd better!" Kai said, growling at Enrique.  
  
"I'll come too. At a time like this I think Mariah needs me around, I AM her brother after all."   
  
So as we piled into the Majestics' Bus to go get some hardy food that America is so known for, I couldn't help but feel a little better. 


	2. Family Affair

The Remedy, Ch. 2  
  
by Nyassa Kaiba  
  
Notes: Okay, second chapter. We're going to do some from Emily's POV, and then go where no fanfic has gone before, into the mind of all starz coach Judy. Ready? Here goes!  
  
~Emily~  
  
The pizza seemed to have lost it's flavor that night. "Mmmmmm!" Tyson sighed, patting his stomach. "That was good! Are all pizzas in New York this Delicious?"   
  
"If you think that's good," Steve grinned. "You should taste the stuff in my hometown, New Haven. Wooster Street is known all over the world for it's pizza! I've seen people from as far away as China go out to Wooster Street for business dinners!"   
  
"You haven't eaten much Em." Michael said gently. "Normally you eat as much of this stuff as Steve does."   
  
"I'm just not very hungry." I sighed.   
  
"But I'd have thought that after singing solo you'd have an appitite big enough to eat a whole Tryhorn!" Eddy protested.  
  
"Hey! Don't eat my bitbeast!" Steve protested.   
  
"It's an expression." I said boredly.   
  
"Was it something Mariah said to you?" Max asked gently.  
  
"How did you know that?"  
  
"Rei said something about it." Max answered, he paused to take a dainty bite of his pizza. "Rei was asking Mariah if she'd say something about it after the concert. Mariah said that she wasn't so sure about taking the issue up with you. I guess you weren't so interested."  
  
"I'm no lesbian whore! How dare she even ask!" I said vehemently, crossing my arms on my chest.  
  
"Wait a minute! Mariah's a lesbian?" Steve demanded. "I thought she was with Rei!"   
  
"Shhhhh!!!" Max hissed. "Rei was covering for her. You know how nervous Mariah can get!"  
  
"I've heard." Michael sighed. "Emily, tell me that you at least were POLITE when you said no to her!" He said irritably.   
  
"Since when have YOU worried about manners?" I demanded. "I'm no lesbian whore and I let her know it!"   
  
Tyson growled. "And why do you think that all Lesbians are prostitutes?" He demanded.   
  
"Um... Judy, I have to go outside." Emily's mom said nervously. "Emily, I'll see you when you get home."   
  
"WAIT! Hikari!" Judy got up and followed her.   
  
~Judy~  
  
"Hikari." I said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"   
  
"Judy, how can I tell her, about when we were kids and... and we were..."   
  
"Easy, we'll get Max and Emily into the same room, away from the other Blade Breakers and All Starz, and we'll tell them, everything, including when Voltaire's boy, Malus attacked you, and went to jail. It's simple."  
  
"Things are never that simple Judy. How can I tell Emily when she won't accept people like me. Judy, she KNOWS that somethings up! I never got married, and she's probably tried to search my room for birth control too. I found the usual sort of places in my room, places a child would immediately guess as a hiding place, rifled through. She knows that SOMETHING is up! What if she... what if she doesn't..." Hikari threw her arms around me and started sobbing into my shoulders. There was the doctor's diagnosis of post partum depression. Had that been more serious? It wasn't enough that Malus had been locked up, and his 2 year old son, Tala, transferred to the foster care of his grandfather. That didn't change Hikari's illness. That didn't change the fact that she was a lesbian, that she'd been violated, or that her one daughter, the light of her life, had turned against her.   
  
"Hikari, it will be alright, okay? I don't want you to cry. If you need any help, I'll come over with Max and we can explain things to Emily. Just wait a little longer okay? Maybe Emily will begin to realize how many people, including her own mother, she's hurting by saying the things she is! I'm sure she doesn't mean it!"   
  
"I hope so." Hikari pulled back, nodding.   
  
"So don't cry." I said gently.   
  
Hikari wiped her tears on her sleeve. "I won't!"   
  
"Pinky promise?" I asked, using the phrase we would say when we were kids.  
  
"Pinky promise." She said, returning the shake.   
  
~tbc~  
  
Awwww!!!   
  
One of the things that I like best about Beyblades is the way they portray the adults behaving in a sensible fashion. Mrs. Kamiya in Digimon Season 1, and Ken's Mother in Season 2, really bothered me. It seemed that in Broadcast Anime, Growing up=Growing dumb. That's a depiction that, as an artist and a writer, really bothers me.  
  
I have all these colleges to research. *Sigh* Anybody know an art school that doesn't already require you to be an acomplished artsit to get in? 


	3. The challenge

The Remedy, Ch. 3  
  
by Nyassa Kaiba  
  
Notes: Okay, lets see how long it takes me to get this done. the time is 12:55 pm  
  
~Emily~  
  
It was practice. I couldn't focus. That can be painful. Eddy knocked Trygator out of the ring for the umpteenth time and the top hit me in the face. "You might want to pay more attention." He reminded me.   
  
"I know." I said with a sigh. "I just can't stop thinking about what... what happened at the concert."  
  
"That doesn't matter to me. And if it comes down to it in the finals, whoever it is we have to battle won't care and take advantage of that." Eddy pointed out. "It's just like with Tennis, if you don't pay attention you get hit in the face."  
  
"I know, I know enough already!" I snapped. "Get your blade ready and get ready to feel pain!"   
  
Steve sighed. "I'd never have expected that kind of temper from you Emily."  
  
"Look who's talking." I snarled.   
  
"Okay, we're going to take a time out and let you cool down." Michael said calmly. "Because I don't want to get hit in the head with any blunt objects."   
  
Robert laughed from the bench where he and Johnny were sprawled. Johnny slipped his sunglasses down to see better. "There's nothing wrong with being gay you know." He pointed out. "I know plenty of gay couples who didn't deserve half the shit they got."  
  
"Manners Johnny." Oliver reminded him.   
  
"Well that's you Johnny. That's not me." Emily said calmly.   
  
"It's many people, I'm simply reminding you that there's no right or wrong way to do anything, including falling in love. There are just different ways for different people." Johnny returned to his sunbathing.   
  
Enrique looked up from tuning his Beyblade. He looked from me, to the other All Stars, to Johnny. Looked about to say something, decided against it, and calmly returned to his tuning.   
  
Robert stretched, then gave the others a cautionary look. "Don't bother her right now." He told the other Majestics. "But remember Emily that what you do outside the dish, stays outside the dish, what you do inside the dish, stays inside the dish. That was the first thing that my acting teacher taught me and it goes for anything, including sports and beyblading."   
  
"That's easy to say and harder to do." I muttered. I looked around the inner city basketball courts, walled off from the rest of the world by a chainlink fence. I noticed a strange, slate haired girl wearing a dark blue cloak leaning against the fence. The girl was joined by another in a green cloak with brown and silver hair. The two of them, laughing, strode off down the street. A red ferarri with tinted windows stopped and the two girls got in.   
  
It seemed like everybody else had it easy. I had so much weighing on my mind. Maybe I should call it quits for the day. Tyson, meanwhile, had found a cd that he actually recognized in Robert's collection. "Hey Robert, can I play this one?"   
  
"Let me see." Robert held up the cd. "Hey, tATu, you DO have good taste."   
  
Tyson grinned. "Last time I checked they weren't considered good taste, but I like them anyway."   
  
To my total and utter surprise, I recognized the song that I'd sung barely a week ago. "Hey, who sang that song? Who IS tATu?"   
  
"They're a pair of Lesbians from Russia." Enrique said, with an impudent grin.   
  
"ENRIQUE!!" I snapped. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!"   
  
"Excuse me." I turned around.   
  
The four people who faced me could ONLY have been one of the local Beyblade Teams. The foremost of them wore a dark, ultramarine cloak over her face. The second wore an emerald green cloak over their face. The third wore a pale blue cloak over their eyes, and the fourth wore a burgundy red cloak that covered her face.   
  
The first of them uncovered her eyes. "My name is Nyassa, Captain of the Connecticut team, The Tribe." Nyassa had red eyes and long, silky slate blue hair that shimmered in waves down to her knees. She turned to address Michael. "I came to challenge your team, the All Stars to a 4 on 4 match."   
  
"YOU'RE ON!!" Michael grinned, all worry forgotten in the furor of a match. The other All Stars fanned out around the left side of the dish. The Tribe on the right side. The other two teams formed a loose circle around the dish.   
  
"Let me go first!" Eddy begged. "I wanna go first!"   
  
"Okay Eddy, feel out their strengths." Michael told him. "They shouldn't be too powerful."   
  
"We're as powerful as we think we are." The figure in pale blue said calmly. "Beyblading is as much an art of empathy as it is a science of numbers. A blader without empathy cannot hope to win."   
  
"How did you know that??" Robert demanded. "That was what my coach told me when I was learning!"   
  
"You'll find out." The girl said calmly. "Do you think any given coach takes on only one apprentice?"   
  
"I know only one person who talks like that!" Robert exclaimed, wide eyed.   
  
"I should hope you do." The girl said with a grin. She removed her hood. "I am Diana Giancarlo, your first opponent." Diana had a much more delicate face than Robert, but her hair and eyes were similar enough to show a family resemblance. "I've traveled far and wide Oniisan. A favor for a friend brings me here. Do not interfere."   
  
"Oh, and which friend is that?" Max asked skeptically.   
  
"You'll find out soon enough." Diana said calmly. "You ready?" She asked Eddy.   
  
"You bet I am! It's not every day you see the sister of a Majestic this far from Europe!"   
  
Robert volunteered to be referee. "3...2...1... let em rip!"   
  
Diana's beyblade was small, but it had long, sharp claws on the sides. "Dizzi, what are your readings?" Kenny asked, curiousity getting the better of him.   
  
"Hmm... it's got pretty solid stats all around Kenny, but I don't like the looks of those claws. And the readings show that she's got a Bit Beast at the ready."   
  
"Hmm... I wonder what bitbeast she has." Kenny said thoughtfully. "Do you have any records on the Tribe Team?"  
  
"I'm searching the database now. Oh, here they are, the Tribe Team is all female and their bit beasts are all out of Native American Mythology. Take a look. Railyon is a wild mustang, Manitou is a painted eagle from Iroqois Mythology, and... uht oh... the other two that they have are called Master Driger and Wing Dragoon." Dizzi said worriedly.   
  
"That doesn't sound Native American!" Tyson protested.   
  
"Master Driger was found the Mayan Ruins, the inscription read; 'Within is the spirit of the Kabakara, a part Jaguar part human monster that has existed since the beginning of time.' And Wing Dragoon was found in an Aztec Pyramid, the inscription read, 'Here the spirit of the winged serpent god, Quetzcotl lies at rest. He will be revived by the courage of his chosen servent.'"   
  
"That... doesn't sound good." Rei said bluntly.   
  
"Then we'll hope that Eddy nips this one in the bud."   
  
Meanwhile, the beyblades clashed without any sign of either running out os steam. "You're pretty good!" Diana grinned, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at Eddy. "How 'bout we bring out our beasts and let the sparks fly?"   
  
"You got it! Trypio! Come on out of there!"   
  
"Alright Railyon my friend. Show him the power of the Nez Perce!" A wild stallion and a scorpion was a pretty odd match up. Why would they... "My buddy Railyon was the guardian spirit of the legendary Chief Joseph, his indian name translates into Thunder rolling in the mountains. When he died, Railyon went to rest, until Cheif Joseph's descendent, Joseph of Walawa found him and gave him to me." Diana said smugly. "Railyon! Thunder Roll! NOW!" The stallion stomped left, right, left, right, left, right. Sparks flew from it's feet. Trypio started to slip and jump around on the dish floor.   
  
"Uht-oh, Trypio's weak point is if it overbalences!" I cried.   
  
The scorpian beast hissed dangerously, jabbing at Railyon. Sparks flew from the mustang's hooves. With a loud boom and a flash of blinding light, Trypio was thrown back from the ring. The blade skittered to a halt, oh... 30 feet away.   
  
"YOW!" Eddy exclaimed.   
  
"Diana's pretty good." Tyson gulped.   
  
"Readings Dizzi?" Kenny asked.  
  
"Minor seismic waves, that beast wasn't kidding around!" Dizzi exclaimed.   
  
"Native America was one of three cradles of civilization, the other two were Egypt and Babylonia." Nyassa said calmly. "Don't tell me you haven't taken Ancient Civilizations, it's required in 6th grade and I know that except for the little guy, all of you are at least in 7th."   
  
"Even I know that." Kenny said indignantly. "I'm not that young!"   
  
"I'll go next." Steve's face set in an expression that he usually only reserved for the varsity games. It was an, I don't think I'm going to make it look.   
  
"Well then Stevey boy ol' pal! I'll battle you, consider it a rematch after the beating I gave you last time." Nyassa grinned, taking her place.   
  
"You know her?" Michael asked, arching a skeptical eyebrow.   
  
"She's on my bus at school." Steve said with a tiny quirk of a smile.  
  
"Be careful." Dizzi said worriedly. "I have the strangest feeling that this match is going to be too hot to handle."   
  
"And you'd be right." Nyassa grinned down at Kenny and Dizzi. "Because my bit beast is straight out of the sun!"  
  
"3...2...1... let 'em rip!" Robert dropped his arms in the signal to launch.   
  
The blades were let loose. "Do you know how big an animal a golden eagle can kill Steve?"  
  
Steve growled, saying nothing, his jaw was set in a stubborn line.  
  
"They've been recorded at taking down a buck male dear, and it's not a stretch for mine to take down a fat lazy cow!" Nyassa shouted. "MANITOU!!"   
  
The light as the golden sun eagle jumped from the blade was blinding and for a moment I thought I saw...  
  
"DRANZER!" The blade breakers gasped.   
  
"Not Dranzer. Everybody, meet Manitou, the Sky God of the Iroqois Nation! And you're worst Aerial Nightmare!"   
  
~tbc~  
  
I am having sooo much fun with this fic. So I've decided to drag it out a bit! Have fun with it! 


	4. Sibling Reunion or NOT ANOTHER ONE!

The Remedy Chapter 4; Showdown   
  
~Emily~  
  
"Why do I get the feeling that Steve has just signed his own death warrant? That bit beast makes Trygle look like a chicken!" Kenny exclaimed.  
  
"For once I'm inclined to agree." My eyes widened in fear.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not a savage like the Demolition Boys are. He'll at least have his bit beast left when I'm through with him." Nyassa grinned. "Manitou! Knock him out of the ring and get it over with! Sunfire Cyclone!"   
  
A firestorm easily knocked Tryhorn out of the ring. Steve's eyes widened as his beyblade fell apart. "What the fucking hell?"  
  
"Manitou is the Iraquois' Sky God. He just blew apart Steve's beyblade. He'll be able to put it back together. I'm no savage after all. But the idea is to leave the blader in question traumatized because they think its broken." Nyassa said to Max in a confidential whisper.   
  
Michael just stared. "Emily. I don't think that you'd better fight these guys until you've got your head on straight."   
  
I didn't mind. I knew that they were planning something to do with Michael. Why didn't they just challenge him flat out?   
  
"Well then." Said the figure in the red cloak. "Just you and me Mikey huh?" She asked sweetly.   
  
"I don't even know you and you're using a nickname?" Michael demanded. "What gives?"  
  
"Oh you know me!" She giggled. "SURPRISE!" She threw off her cloak.   
  
The girl beneath it had chin length, messy red hair under a Yankee's baseball cap. Her eyes, they reminded me of... Michael???   
  
"N...NATALY!!!!!!" Michael cried.   
  
"I wanted to surprise you Michael! I kept looking all the time and I never stopped looking for you!" Nataly and Michael threw their arms around each other, knocking over the beystadium in an excess of joy. The two of them fell to the ground, laughing and tickling each other.   
  
"HOW DID YOU ESCAPE??"  
  
"I had help! Robert and Enrique played this really funny trick on Voltaire! And then Diana and Nyassa attacked the Abby! You should have seen the look on Boris' face!"   
  
"I would have thought that Robert wouldn't play tricks."  
  
Robert grinned. "Well, actually Enrique did most of the work. He disguised himself as an abby desciple and checked out the security systems. And, well, flying tops can still do a lot of damage, so Nyassa and I teamed up, but that was ages ago. I thought that Nataly had found you by now."   
  
"You knew all this time?" Michael demanded.   
  
"Hold the phone!" Kenny exclaimed. "What's going on here?"   
  
"Um... well MIchael is my twin. When we were in Kindergarten, I was the one who had Trygle, only he was stuck in this bearclaw necklace that our father had given to me. He believed in bit beasts, so he could actually see them. But mom didn't. I found early on that I could talk to Trygle and Michael couldn't. So when the people from Biovolt came to ask whether or not any of us could control bit beasts, mom sold away her custody without dad's consent." Nataly explained.   
  
"And when they were dragging her off to the car to go to the Abby, Nataly threw the necklace to me, I still catch with that hand, and that's how I got Trygle!" Michael continued.  
  
"Then with Tala's and Brian's help I became the best technician the abby had. But when he heard about Michael, Tala offered to help me. He and Robert were friends since gradeschool, so he managed to get Robert to help him."  
  
"That's where I came in." Enrique grinned impudently. "I'm really good at fitting in. So I came to the abby as a paying student, not an apprentice. That meant that I could leave any time that I wanted. I checked out the security systems with a little help from Tala. Got Nataly to trust me."  
  
"Then in the middle of the night we launched a double attack." Nyassa said, "With help from myself, Carola, Carola's cousin Ozuma, (he was on our team until we got a fourth player,) Diana, Robert, Johnny and Oliver."   
  
"During the furor Brian helped me escape the Abby." Nataly grinned. "After that we went on a trip to Mexico to the Mayan Pyramids to celebrate. That's how I found Master Driger. After that, Ozuma was called away back home. There was a new scanning device back at the labs where he worked that he was being asked to test, but he suggested that I take his place, because I had better empathy with bitbeasts than most of the other possible replacements." Nataly explained.   
  
"We planned how I would return really carefully, all we needed was a where." She went on. "And when I saw you practicing, I knew it was a perfect opportunity."   
  
I drew back from the group. "So who are these guys again?" I asked.   
  
"We're the Connecticut State Team, the Tribe." Nyassa explained. "I'm Nyassa, my father was one of the teachers at the Abby, but he's dead now. He got a huge pension from Biovolt and an enormous life insurance check though, its disgusting to have to live off of Biovolt's so called charity until I'm 18, but at least I don't have to look at Voltaire's snivelling beak all day and say, yes sir or no sir."  
  
"I'm Carola, my Cousin Ozuma is the Lead Equipment tester at the Okinawa Reasearch Center out in Japan. He gets all the latest Beyblades Equipment, so I can usually cash in on the booty once the stuff's been approved as safe."   
  
"I'm Diana, Robert's little sister. I feel really restricted inside stone walls. I love traveling! I like New England a lot, so I managed to get a visa that allowed me to stay and play for the Tribe. I much prefer music to fireside yarns, I've even cut a record deal with Maverick Records, you know, Madona's Label?"   
  
"And..." Nataly blushed. "I'm Nyassa's girlfriend, in addition to being the technician and resident anti-biovolt hacker."   
  
I stared. My face felt hot. I smacked my hands to my face and sobbed. "NOT ANOTHER ONE!!!!!" Before running off.   
  
"What's wrong with her?" Nyassa asked tactlessly.   
  
I never heard Michael's answer. I ran all the way home. 


End file.
